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Welcome to the course

This free course explores the range of stakeholders and big issues that influence a property development. Watch Paddy and Emma introduce the course.
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Welcome to our Pathways to Property, introduction to real estate course. We’re really glad you’ve joined us. Pathways to Property is an initiative between the Reading Real Estate Foundation and the Sutton Trust, supported by many companies across the property industry. My name is Paddy Allen, I’m Head of Transactions in New Market Entry for GSA Group, a company that develops, invests, and operates in student housing across the world. My job is one of many across the property industry, and throughout this course, you’ll hear from a host the people across the sector. My name’s Dr. Emma Street from the Department of Real Estate and Planning at the University of Reading. We really hope you enjoy the course.
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We’ve tried to make it lively and engaging, and you’ll be meeting lots of experts from both within the university and industry to guide you through it. This week we’re going to explore the nature of property, or real estate to give it another name. We’re going to think about what the property development process entails and who has a stake in that process. You’ll also hear about the major development behind me, International Quarter London, based here in a major regeneration area of East London, which formed the focus of the 2012 Olympic games. This will form part of your live case study, which we’ll explore throughout the course, but you’ll also get a chance to explore a building or area closer to you.
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You’ve reflected on what property means to you in the opening exercise. Now we’re going to hear from some industry professionals. Think about how their views might differ from yours, and also whether there are differences of opinion within those professional groups and reflect on why that might be. For the next stage of your learning journey, you might want to look at some of the models produced by academics like myself that can help us to think critically and reflectively about the property development process. Good luck with the rest of this week, and we’ll catch up later.

Hello and welcome to ‘Pathways to Property: Starting Your Career in Real Estate’, a three week course produced by the Reading Real Estate Foundation (RREF) and the Henley Business School at the University of Reading.

Watch Dr Emma Street from the Henley Business School and Paddy Allen from the Global Student Accommodation Group, introduce the course and explain what you’ll be covering over the next three weeks.

Whilst we are delighted to welcome learners from around the world and look forward to your invaluable contribution to the discussions and activities, we have developed the content with a specific target audience in mind. If you are 14-18 years old, and think you may be interested in a career in property, this course is for you.

Your educators

Victor Nicholls Victor is a freelance regeneration consultant and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Real Estate and Planning, Henley Business School, University of Reading. A chartered town planner, he has over 30 years experience in local authority development, property and regeneration.
Dr Ed Shepherd Associate Professor of Planning and Development at the Henley Business School. Edward is a dual-qualified (MRICS and MRTPI) chartered planning and development surveyor and town planner with experience in both private practice and academic teaching and research.

Your student mentors

Harriet Heylen 2nd year student studying for a BSc in Real Estate at the Henley Business School, University of Reading.
Harman Tawana 2nd year student studying for a BSc in Real Estate at the Henley Business School, University of Reading.
Harry Lloyd Jones 1st year student studying for a BSc in Real Estate at the Henley Business School, University of Reading.

Course facilitation

Your Educators and Mentors will be facilitating the course discussions between 28 June and 18 July.

We recommend you follow the Educators and Mentors listed above (you can do this by clicking the links to the educator and mentor profiles and then the pink ‘Follow’ button under the biography) to view responses to common queries within the course. By following other profiles, any comments made will appear in your activity feed on your profile, which you can filter by ‘Following’.

Survey

We’d also be grateful if you could please fill out this optional pre-course survey for the Henley Business School and Reading Real Estate Foundation. It should take less than a minute to complete.

Now you’ve met the team and know what to expect from the course, we’d really like to meet you.

Are you interested in a career in property? If you were to pursue a career related to property, what would it be and why? What are you hoping to gain from the course? Share your thoughts in the discussion below.

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